Pretty much every signing for the Cubs this year should be announced as, "Cubs sign placeholder".

Our rotation is looking more and more like a 110 loss rotation. It's gonna get ugly, folks.

Feldman

Whaddaya know!

Well, I guess he more or less fits the profile of what the Cubs are resigned to doing this year. He's not too old, has some history of cromulence and is coming off a down year so he lacks real alternatives and can be had on a short deal.

At least Cubs fans can console themselves with The Lost Boys references this season.

For what it's worth, Dave Cameron had been advocating Feldman as a bargain signing for a while. I don't normally agree with him, but at the very least he raises the point that Feldman's definitely been hurt by his home park (of course he's moving to Wrigley, so who knows). Not a bad argument either way, though.

Don't mind all that much, honestly. Decent player, could be more. Nothing to get excited about, but nothing to get upset about either.

Perfectly cromulent signing...

There just aren't many good bargains or high upside wildcards available this offseason.

I'm not excited about any of this - but I approve of these moves... low cost, short-term, keep-casey-coleman-off-the-mound moves that are pointless in the grand scheme of things.

Pretty much every signing for the Cubs this year should be announced as, "Cubs sign placeholder".

3.87 xFIP last year.

I like Feldman as a signing quite a bit. He's signed for half of what the Royals will pay Ervin Santana, and I think Feldman will put up better numbers.

#royaling

The Royals' rotation is looking more and more like a 120 loss rotation. It's gonna get ugly, folks.

Look--I don't expect the 2013 Cubs to be any good, but Garza/Samardzija/Wood/Feldman/Baker's not a "110-loss rotation."

I think it's a good value type signing. There are just a few of these low cost, low risk starting pitchers available in the market. And the Cubs are getting them signed.

Whaddaya know!

Worst. Show. Ever.

Anything that's given Clyde Stubblefield a regular paycheck has some merit.

So long as I don't have to listen to it. My brothers & I always called it "The Willfully Boring Show".

3.87 xFIP last year.

Misleading. His ERA was higher than that because he was, oftentimes, very hittable, not because of bad luck or bad defense.

I do think Feldman is a reasonable bounceback candidate, but he (and Roy Oswalt, who had a 5.80 ERA, a 4.23 FIP, and a 3.27 xFIP) had big ERA/FIP spreads because they were lousy, not because of luck.

Garza/Samardzija/Wood/Feldman/Baker's not a "110-loss rotation.

You sure? Garza, Samardzija and Wood were part of a 100-loss rotation with outstanding work from Dempster and good work from Maholm. If Feldman, Baker and Garza pitch well in the first half, they are likely to be traded; if they don't, the 2013 Cubs rotation will be performing much worse than the 2012 Cubs rotation.

Just using 2012 numbers:

Garza 103 IP, 101 ERA+
Wood 156 IP, 92 ERA+
SPJ 174 IP, 103 ERA+
Baker 134 IP, 129 ERA+ (woo-hoo!)
Feldman 124 IP, 89 ERA+

Compare those last two to:

Dempster 104 IP, 174 ERA+
Maholm 120 IP, 105 ERA+

The 2013 rotation pitched worse than the 2012 rotation in 2012 so it's not intuitively obvious we should expect them to out-perform the 2012 rotation. The 6th, 7th, etc. starters remain the same as far as I know except Volstad is gone. Obviously if you assume near-perfect health and full Cub seasons for those 5, the rotation will be better but that was true in 2012 too.

One place where the "Cubs aren't that awful, they'll win 75" crew went wrong last offseason was in not realizing how horrible the Aug-Sept Cubs were going to be after every useful part was dealt. These are the options:

a) this rotation stinks and they're all there in Aug-Sept ... possibly not stinking as they return to true talent
b) this rotation gets hurt which means the starting pitching will stink in the first half ... possibly not stinking in Aug-Sept
c) this rotation pitches decently ... in which case 2 to 4 of them will be traded and the Aug-Sept rotation will be miserable

With some combo of (b) and (c) like last year probably the most likely outcome.

Which is not to say that I am (yet) projecting 110 losses for the Cubs. And, in isolation, these moves are fine. And I think Theo has made clear that the Cubs are following through on the "full tear down and rebuild" plan and these moves are completely consistent with that (as opposed to, for example, signing Sanchez or Jackson or Lohse). We had it out last offseason about why I don't think that's the right or necessary plan for a team like the Cubs but that ship has sailed. I'm OK with these signings ... I'd still like to know where all the f'ing money is going though.

I do think Feldman is a reasonable bounceback candidate, but he (and Roy Oswalt, who had a 5.80 ERA, a 4.23 FIP, and a 3.27 xFIP) had big ERA/FIP spreads because they were lousy, not because of luck.

Oh, ok.

Look--I don't expect the 2013 Cubs to be any good, but Garza/Samardzija/Wood/Feldman/Baker's not a "110-loss rotation."

120?

The problem(s) with the 2013 Cubs may not include the rotation. That starting 5 looks average-ish, provided health. However, with black holes at 3 to 4 positions, and a mediocre pen, it certainly appears to be a 95 to 100 loss team, at least to me.

Perhaps easiest to put it this way:

a) The Cubs rotation could be league-averagish. The top 5 are not terrible (6-8 might be more than terrible).
b) Between position players, starters and relievers, the starters are probably the strongest part of the team.
c) alas (a) and (b) don't mean it's not a 110-loss rotation but ...
d) if the Cubs do lose 95+, that is not likely to be the fault of the top 5 starters other than injury.

I'd still like to know where all the f'ing money is going though.

Into the owner's bank account.

Feldman's cromulence can be overstated. He averaged 5 1/3 innings per start in 2012, and often he'd get to that point in the game having thrown 100 or 105 pitches and simply not having been very effective; his tendency was to have a big inning mar an otherwise OK, if short outing. I understand that this is the Cubs and almost anything would be better than their current options, and that he's likely to be somewhere else soon, but just qua Feldman, he might be better out of the bullpen. (He had eight relief appearances last year, and his ERA as a reliever was as high as 1.98 simply because he gave up three runs in one of them; the rest were scoreless).

The Cubs really should be trying to get option years on these contracts.

A 1/10 team option on Baker and Feldman would make them much nicer pieces if they perform well, either as trade bait, or to keep for 2014.

Would either have turned down a deal with a 1/10 team option and a $1M buyout added? You'd think both guys would be thrilled by the extra $1M guaranteed, and not unhappy to pitch for $10M in 2014.

You sure? Garza, Samardzija and Wood were part of a 100-loss rotation with outstanding work from Dempster and good work from Maholm. If Feldman, Baker and Garza pitch well in the first half, they are likely to be traded; if they don't, the 2013 Cubs rotation will be performing much worse than the 2012 Cubs rotation.

That's fair enough, but I also expect Garza and probably Wood to pitch better this year than last, and of course the good parts of last year's rotation were either hurt or traded the last two months, leading to the 101 losses. As you note, a good start by Baker/Feldman/Garza could mean *they* get traded, leaving the team with the same sort of crap rotation that ended last season, but that doesn't make the rotation as presently constituted a 110-loss rotation on its own merits. I think "averageish" is a fair descriptor. I expect Garza and Samardzija to be well above average, Wood to be at least average, and Feldman and Baker to be meh but probably not terrible. As you also note: the starters are probably the least of the team's problems right now (though the long-term prognosis for the position players is probably better).

Casey Coleman was DFA'd to make room for Feldman. This will make many of you happy.

woo no more coleman. Dont forget that towards the end of the season, vizciado(sp) comes back from tj surgery and rehab so we will have his arm down the strech to a degree.

I think the best case scenario is this rotation will be average which means in reality it will be terrible.

In other Cubs' news, the team has non-tendered Ian Stewart, Jaye Chapman, and some guy that they had just claimed off waivers a month ago. Zach Putnam is his name.

Looks like they've signed Kyuji Fujikawa, as well.

fujikawa's dav trans